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JAMAICA 



THE AM E EICANS. 



BY 



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WILLIAM WEMYSS ANDERSON, ESG^., 

FOllMEaLT OXE OF THE PROTECTORS OF SLAVES, ANn LATELY A MEMBER OF 
THE LEGISLAT0RE OF THE ISLAND OF ««}*. / ii/yr^ t^A-^gy 



. NEW- YORK : 
STANFORD AND SWORDS 
1851. 



JAMAICA 



AND 



THE AMERICANS. 



BY 



WILLIAM WEMYSS ANDERSON, ESQ., 

FOEMBELY ONE OF THE PE0TECT0E9 OF SLAVES, AND LATELY A MEMBEE OF THE 
LEGISLATUEE OF THE ISLAND OF JAMAICA. 



/ 



NEW- YORK : 
STANFORD AND SWORDS. 

1851. 



JOHN R. M'GOWN, PRINTEK, 
57, Ann-steeet. 



t\ La ^ 

> 



A 5 

/ ^ 



TO 



AMERICANS, 



WHOSE PTATE OF HEALTH RENDERS IT DESIRABLE TO HAVE, 



DURING THE WINTER MONTHS, 



A PLACE OF RESIDENCE IN A GENIAL CLIMATE 



IN THE VIOINITT OF THEIR OWN MAGNIFICENT COUNTRY, 



WITHOUT INVOLVING THE PAINFUL NECESSITY OF WHOLLY ABANDONING IT, 



THIS LITTLE WORK 



IS VERY RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, 



PRELIimAM STATEMENT. 



I remember in my early life,*' in Scotland, when a young 
friend was sent to Jamaica to pusli his fortune, that we con- 
sidered him almost as lost to us, for at least twenty years. 
After such a term we hoped we might, if he survived, see him 
back amongst us with his fortune. Our feelings were very 
sad on these occasions, and the memory of them still excites 
the tenderest emotions. The voyage from England then oc- 
cupied about sixty days ; sometimes three months ; and the 
expense of passage by the Post-office Packets was not under 
£100 sterling. 

The relations of the countries are vastly altered. The dis- 
tance from England via America may now be estimated at 
seventeen days, and the passage money, in steam-floating 
palaces, not above d£35 sterling. Such a voyage may now be 
made as a trip of pleasure in the long holidays. The impor- 
tance of this to both countries will be appreciated so soon as 
the value of the Island in respect of its climate, the variety 
and value of its productions, and the fertility of its soil are 
more generally known. On all these points there is still 
much ignorance even in England. 

Though in its relation to America, Jamaica is a foreign 
country, yet let it be known by Americans that it seeks to be 
to them a friendly one. The inhabitants speak the same lan- 

* Say thirty years ago. 



6 JPRELIMINARY STATlEMElTT. 

guage, have the same customs, and use the same literature as 
those of America, and in numerous instances are they inter- 
linked by the ties of family and friendship. Jamaica is suf- 
fering under fiscal regulations that depress the markets for 
sugar and coffee, below fair remunerating prices. Many of 
her best inhabitants have consequently been ruined, and pro- 
perty has fallen to an incredibly low value. But there are 
various directions in which well directed energy may still 
accomplish a great deal. Under this impression we would 
hail the Americans as neighbors more likely than any other 
people, from their proximity and many valuable qualities, to 
aid us by their energy and agricultural skill, in developing the 
abounding and varied wealth of our soil. Is it not proved to 
be rich, from the single well known fact that during slavery a 
negro laborer^generaliy derived for himself, abundant means 
of support by the labor of one day in the fortnight on his 
provision ground, loith his hoe. His labor was unaided and 
unabridged by implemental husbandry or labor-saving ma- 
chines. The climate, it is true, is unfavorable to severe 
and long continued bodily exertion, but that is not required 
from cultivators of the soil to the same extent as in England 
or America. The moderate labor of five hours a day con- 
ducted by skill, would produce results in Jamaica equal to the 
ten hours of the American farmer. I have often rejoiced in the 
thought of what might some day be done, and will yet be done 
in Jamaica, as I believe and hope. Jamaica is the Italy of the 
Western world. Its climate is genial ; and if indolejit and 
dissipated habits be avoided, there is no country where a bet- 
ter or more agreeable state of health may be maintained. 

Its proximity must be of peculiar interest to that class in 
the United States Vvdiose constitutions are unable to endure a 
severe winter climate. Pulmonary patients who go sufficient- 
ly early to Ja.maica, almost invariably obtain relief and resto- 
ration to perfect health and ability for every kind of exertion. 



PRELIMINARY ST ATE MEN 1\ 7 

1 think I am justified in stating generally that farmers 
could obtain an easier and a better subsistence by a far less 
amount of well directed labor than would be required in any 
one of the United States. In addition to corn and stock of 
all kinds, for which there is ever a ready market, they could 
cultivate plantains, yams, arrow root, cassava, sugar, coffee, 
chocolate, indigo, tobacco, cotton, ginger, grapes, and a va- 
riety of oils, nuts, fruits, &o. Labor is cheap, and if well 
superintended would be both effective and profitable. 

is there any thing to hinder those who wish to have a farm 
and a residence in Jamaica and one in America too, and to at- 
tend to both ? I think not. I believe I v/ill follow that course 
myself. The transition is easily made, and by making it, per- 
petual summer may be enjoyed, which to many individuals 
must be of vital importance to the preservation of life and 
enjoyment, 

I venture to publish this little work for circulation in 
America, because it contains my impressions of both countries 
after a very delightful trip I made to the latter last year, go- 
ing in the " Empire City" and returning in the " Crescent 
City" steam vessels. I think the work may convey to Ameri- 
cans especially, much useful practical knowledge of this coun- 
try. The facility with which I made so pleasant a transition 
to the United States made a deep impression on my mind. 
My feelings of interest too, were greatly enlivened and ren- 
dered permanent by the kind and liberal hospitality of the 
commanders of these noble vessels, and the cordiality of my 
communications with numerous American citizens, whom I 
had the pleasure of meeting as fellow passengers. To all of 
those who may remember me, I tender for myself and fellow- 
countrymen who were with me, our sincere, friendly and 
grateful acknowledgements. 

I cannot conclude these observations without entreating 
visitors not to receive their impressions of this lovely Island 



8 PRELIMINARY STATEMENT. 

from our dry and dusty city of Kingston. By all means, 
hire a horse and take a ride to the top of the beautiful moun- 
tains beyond, and if you do not see there any thing to excite 
your attention and fix your regards, I shall not have a word 
further to say. 

Richmond Pen, near Kingston, Jamaica, 
29th July, 1850. 



JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS.^ 



There seems to be a new epoch opening in the history of 
Jamaica different in its characteristics from all that have 
preceded. After the close of the long dark drama of 
slavery, an artificial and ill-considered system succeeded, 
which though framed with the object of facilitating the 
transition to a better state, betrayed great ignorance of our 
true condition, signally failed of success in every point, 
and demanded an abrupt termination to save the country 
from the evils which it engendered. The apprenticeship 
was chiefly remarkable for the development, in greater 
intensity, of hostile instead of friendly and improved rela- 
tions between master and servant. It exhibited the last 
contest on British soil betwixt Slavery and Freedom. That 
contest having been closed, a free but most profitless con- 
dition of society succeeded, in which each party strove to 
make the most of his position, regardless of consequences 
except to himself, and the result has been injury almost 
irreparable to all. Exhaustion has now supervened, and 
men are beginning anxiously to inquire how it is that the 
fairest and most beautifully gifted spot of the Western 
world has become a desolation and a bye-word for all that is 
inferior in condition and backward in progress ; and they all 

* A lecture read at Kingston, before the Colonial Literakt Society, on 
Monday, the 17th day of January, 1850. By Wm. Wemyss Anderson, Esq. 



10 JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. 

now lend a willing ear to lessons which in other days might 
have been considered as unacceptable. 

From the proximity of Jamaica to the United States, 
and the frequent intercourse thence arising, and of late 
greatly facilitated, it is natural that we should, from the 
natural tendency to make comparisons, be attracted to a 
consideration of the elements of their remarkable progress 
and rapid accumulation of wealth and power. Their country 
teems with lessons of profit to us, and there is no better 
mode of ascertaining the secrets of our past weakness, and 
of the strength that we may yet acquire, than by a close 
study of the social condition of America ; its agriculture, its 
commerce, and its legislation. "What I have now to offer is, 
as a composition, little better than a few desultory sugges- 
tive observations, but coming from one who, regarding the 
island as his home, can have no motive but to enlarge the 
field of knowledge and of happiness, and to point oiit what 
appears to him likely to conduce to that end, I trust my 
views may receive at least the favor of candid consideration. 

Having an engagement of business in the United States, 
I embarked on the American Steamer the " Empire City," 
on the 5th day of September last, and arrived in the harbor 
of New- York on the 11th ; making within six days a voyage 
which by a sailing vessel usually occupied from fifteen to 
twent}'". 

On approaching the shores of America, I sslw every sign 
of wealth, abundance, and power. The numerous shipping 
approaching to and departing from the port — the beautiful 
villas studding the banks of the harbor from its entrance far 
into the noble river beyond, and the vast city in the distance, 
teeming with industrial life, strongly and fearfully contrasted 
with the desolation I had left here ; and at the moment I 
could not but feel oppressed by melancholy and by a desire 
to transfer to such a land my future enterprise and fortune. 
On a nearer approach, the hotels, with their magnificent 
accommodations, and the almost Tyrian splendor of the 
habitations of her merchant princes, greatly strengthened 



JAMAICA AKD THE AMERICANS. H 

and confirmed my first impression of the power and the 
happiness of this great Republic of the "West. 

One of the earliest inquiries that rose to my mind was, 
whence this wealth? 

It is at no remote period of English history that America 
was first approached for colonization. The main object of 
the early settlers w^as to secure " freedom to worship G-od," 
which England in those days had denied them. They 
landed on the desolate and rock-bound shores of Cape Cod, 
one of the least inviting and cheerless districts of the country, 
where they formed the colony of Plymouth, and with their 
wives and little Ones, and the companions who subsequently 
joined them, they struggled through cold, privation, and 
disease, and much deaths often obliged to watch for their 
lives with their implements of husbandry in hand, and their 
weapons of defence for protection against the Indians by 
their side. They had not, as we have, a genial climate or 
fruitful soil, readily yielding abundance for little labor. 
Their climate was, as it is now, intolerably severe, and the 
soil yielded its moderate returns only to long years of severe 
toil. Thus were they disciplined. 

Comparing Jamaica with what I have seen of the United 
States, it is most obvious to me that in respect of soil, 
variety of products, excellence ©f climate, and cheapness of 
labor, Jamaica has many advantages peculiarly its own. 
But the energy and skill put forth by the Americans to guide 
their labor, and the constancy and industry with which that 
labor is prosecuted, has hitherto enabled them to leave us far 
in the distance. Our natural advantages have, in conse- 
quence of our supineness and bad management, hitherto 
counted as nothing in our favor. We do not yet even raise 
our food, except very partially, from our own soil. The 
corn, the pork, beef, lard and potatoes Ave consume, are 
raised mainly on theirs, or in Ireland. So also the cotton 
and woollen clothing that]we wear are all grown, dyed, spun, 
and woven in America and England. Cotton, say wc, is not 
worth raising, nor wool worth gathering when shorn from 



12 JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. 

our sheep ; and although our population do not, on an 
average of the whole island, work five hours of each working 
day, yet we, it seems, consider it better and cheaper to have 
the labor of the highly paid agriculturists and manufacturers 
of America and England than to work for ourselves in such 
leading and indispensable departments of human industry. 
The sad truth, however, is, that the spirit of indolent, sensual 
life, which is a stranger to self-denial and sustained energy, 
has obtained the supremacy, and struggles hard to keep it ; 
and may I not also add, the spirit of a pride that is founded, 
not on what is ennobling, but on the pitiable notion that hard 
work degrades, instead of elevating as it ever must do, the 
mind, is a fearful incubus on the industry of the great bulk 
of the colored inhabitants. 

One of the characteristics which appeared to me more 
strongly characteristic of American society than any with 
which I have been acquainted, is the honorable estimation 
in which manual labor is held by all classes. A man may 
there follow the plough without denuding himself of the 
standing of a gentleman, if he really has the education and 
knowledge of society, and good manners that entitle him to 
that distinction. So a woman, whose good qualities entitle 
her to it, may continue to mix freely with intelligent and 
educated society, (I do not say fine or fashionable,) although 
she be \forking her ten hours a day at her loom. I will bye 
and bye instance cases in proof of this. Let me not, how- 
ever, be mistaken. Pride and luxury have done their work 
there as well as here. There is a class in America in which 
wealth and not worth, either moral or intellectual, constitute 
the criterion of its members' qualifications. The " whole 
lump," therefore, has not yet been leavened with the feelings 
and principles I have referred to, but the good and peculiar 
characteristics I speak of, prevail generally in American 
society, excepting in their great cities. 

It cannot, I fear, be denied that the peculiarities of habits 
and opinion which distinguish slave-holding countries, still, 
in some degree, linger here, and have made us very blind to 



JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. 13 

truths which are recognised and acted on elsewhere, as 
lying on the very surface of society. In most old free coun- 
tries, not only labor, but very hard labor, seems the recognised 
lot of all, but those who have been born in the lap of wealth ; 
while in slave countries, the privilege of an easy or indolent 
life is claimed by multitudes whose chief title to it is their 
peculiar race. Ten hours is considered in England or Ameri- 
ca as a moderate day's work, and in the latter country I 
believe twelve hours is not uncommon ; and I am sorry also 
to state that the females in many of the factories of America, 
are amongst the overtasked. But even if so, they are well 
fed, comfortably and genteely dressed, and well lodged, and 
they have a surplus over, after comfortably and abundantly 
providing for themselves, which often becomes the foundation 
of much future comfort to themselves and their families. 
They not unfrequently work out, to relieve the family embar- 
rassments, or to accumulate handsome marriage portions for 
themselves ; and assuredly such women need no other for- 
tunes than their own worth to the happy men who may se- 
cure them. As to the labor of farmers in the field, the hours 
of three and four in the morning are not uncommon for com* 
menceraent in summer. The American farmer not only goes 
out with his laborers, to overlook and direct them, but he is 
their leader in labor, and cheers them on, and works heartily 
with them with his hands. Labor so directed, is of course 
applied faithfully and vigorously, and most profitably. A 
good, moderate sized farm is cultivated, and the produce sent 
to market by the aid of three or four servants, in circum- 
stances where we would probably require fifteen. AVages of 
laborers there, vary from two to three shillings per day, and 
are sometimes even higher, and yet they raise, and bring into 
the market for sale, Corn, at prices varying from 9d. to 2s, 
per bushel ; " a great fact," as Carlyle would say, which it 
greatly concerns us to get an account of. Certainly their 
superiority over us is not to be found either in their soil or 
climate, but in their more laboriously and more skilfully di- 
rected industry, aided by implemental husbandry. If an 



14 JAMAICA AND THE AMERICAIfS. 

acre is to be planted in corn or potatoes, the usual course for 
a Jamaica farmer is, to send twelve or fifteen laborers with 
their hoes, and probably at the end of the day, the ground 
may have been turned up. And then follows the planting^, 
which is done slowly by the hand, and the making of the 
drills, and subsequently the cleaning and moulding are all ac- 
complished by the tedious and primitive process of hand- 
hoeing. 

But in America, how is it ? A single man with his little 
one-horse plough is sent to the field alone, and in a day he 
does the work of fifteen of ours. Then the harrowing fol- 
lows with equal speed, facility and economy of labor ; the 
sowing by a machine which does by an almost simulta- 
neous operation the three-fold work of making a drill, drop- 
ping the seed at equal distances, and covering it up — all as 
quickly as a horse can walk from end to end of the field. As 
fast as he walks this three-fold work is done by a self-acting 
machine, which only requires to be dragged over the ground, 
to put the whole of its powers into effective operation. 
What wonder then at the cheapness of their corn and pork, 
and the impossibility of our competing with them in thiese 
articles, so long as we continue in our old ways. "We all 
suffer, because, in truth, our neglected rural population is 
willing to remain a century behind the rest of the world, 
wedded to their old customs and modes of working — self-sat- 
isfied and deficient in enterprise ; and as yet there has been 
no apostle of a better system to stir them up. The plough 
is still comparatively rare in this island. By the cultivators 
of corn and provisions it is never used, while it is universal 
in America. I learned an extraordinary fact illustrative of 
this one day when I was purchasing some agricultural im- 
plements at the store of an eminent maker in New- York : he 
informed me that to the State of Virginia alone he sent an- 
nually 10,000 ploughs ! These implements, it is true, are 
cheap, and some so small in size that they are often worked 
on easy soils by girls with perfect facility. The ground is 
turned up as fast as the horse travels, and a wide field of 



JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. 15 

corn is easily prepared. Food, therefore, is cheap and 
abundant ; it is raised by intelligence and labor, and comfort 
and independence reign every where. "Were the labor on our 
magnificent soils managed by as wise an economy, the in- 
crease in the value of our land would be astounding. Our 
land is cheap and valueless only because we have not a sys- 
tem of general cultivation to turn it to profitable account. 
Following our system, America would be poor as we are. 
In their northern states the land is poor and cold, and yields 
in most cases little surplus beyond a living, even after the 
exertion of such labor, directed by skill and well-made in- 
struments. But consider our soil. See what an ignorant 
mountain cultivator can extract from a single acre. Seldom, 
indeed, is it that much more is cultivated by a Jamaica 
peasant than enough to supply his family's wants. The abund- 
ant and varied products of the soil enable him to live in 
comfort even with so small a modicum of exertion. Were 
any man to work his ten hours a day, and be aided by suit- 
able implements for economising labor, and better informa- 
tion, how easily could he achieve for himself comfort and 
independence, and wealth, and cease to be, as he has been 
too often, a mere dependant or hanger-on upon society or 
relatives. 

The hardy industry of the Americans had its origin in 
their difficult circumstances. Indeed, it may truly be said, 
that all virtue has its rise in difficulties and trouble. A man 
that has not experienced these, rarely ranks amongst those 
who have advanced to eminence as successful or useful men. 
Many men of good education in America, and qualified for 
important stations in society, lay their hand manfully to the 
plough ; and some have continued at the work until the 
moment of their call to the President's chair. In the British 
provinces and the countries of Australia, there are the same 
willing minds for hard work. The spirited emigrants that 
are now leaving England in such multitudes, are many of 
them men of good family, and have tasted but little of pre- 
vious hardship ; but they are men of nerve and independence 



16 JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. 

of feeling. A man of that class, with his fowling piece and 
small supply of provisions in a bag, fearlessly enters the 
woods and makes his log-house, and subdues the land around 
him, until he is surrounded by fertility and abundance and 
beauty. Would that the day had arrived in Jamaica, when 
a leader for her youth should arise (too many of whom are 
now prostrated under a long-continued depression) who, re- 
solving to achieve independence at any cost for himself and 
them, and to vanquish the apathy that has so long borne 
down the energies of the country, would call to his fellows, 
"A home in the woods ! "Who will follow?" And if such a 
purpose, laid deep in a foundation of religion and virtue, were 
to prevail generally, then indeed would be the commence- 
ment of the epoch of Jamaica's glory. To spirited men, there 
is every thing to delight in the " forest home," and the 
" hunter's hut," associated as they must be with thoughts 
of activity, health, manly effort, and free glorious independ- 
ence. "Were such a race to appear amongst us here, soon 
would farm houses, and interior towns spring up, as in 
America, the abodes of peace, plenty, industry, and virtue. 
"What a change would that be, from the listless feeble life to 
which too many in this island have resigned themselves, sink- 
ing under the adversities of the times, instead of rising like 
men above them ! Look at the young American, with his 
cheerful, hard working wife, and their . neat tidy home, and 
well brought up children — all working, living in the fear of 
G-od, and in obedience to the sacred obligations of family and 
society, and compare it with the cheerless condition of too 
many of our youth and their dependent families. I forbear 
to follow out the comparison ; but I implore the rising gene- 
ration to consider it. 

That I may not seem to speak the language of Utopia in 
my praise of American life, let me tell you a true tale. I 
knew a youth who had been born in this island, and had en- 
joyed its style and its comforts in the first degree, and would 
as soon have thought of a dishonorable action as to have put 
his hand to manual labor. He had, however, burning within 



JA^MAICA AND THE AMERICANS. 17 

him the love of independence ; but he was not rich in money* 
A friend who perceived the high qualities of his nature, and 
that the energy that was slumbering within him was, if roused) 
fully sufficient to place him in a position of honorable inde- 
pendence, advised him to seek a home in the woods of Ameri- 
ca. He had the spirit to follow the advice. He went to 
America and set himself in the family of a farmer to learn to 
"Work. The farmer looked incredulous and told him that he 
with his soft hands could never labor. " Try me," said the 
youth. " Well, I will try you," quoth the farmer, and forth- 
with sets him to work on one of the most discouraging and 
unpleasant jobs which could have been selected in the whole 
circle of the farm work. Forth he went however to the work. 
He told me that he did once falter for a moment. But in- 
stantly reflecting, he rallied and began again. He completed 
the work and was encouraged by having gained the good 
opinion and cordial respect and approbation of the worthy 
farmer, who became, and now is, his attached friend. This 
same youth I have seen manfully driving his team in open 
day ; and in the estimation of those who see, and know him, 
he is not one whit less the gentleman on that account. He 
moves in the best circles of the superior society which his dis- 
trict aJiFords. I have seen his letter describinar the delight of 
his change of life. No more, he says, have I unsound and 
feverish sleep. I start at dawn of day, at five, or even four 
o'clock in Summer : I work an hour, then breakfast; goto 
the field till twelve ; then dine — and out again till five ; see 
the stock housed and fed, and then supper, and social enjoy- 
ment, and early to my well earned rest — to sound sleep and 
heavenly dreams — I use his own expression — to " the rest of 
the laboring man, which is sweet, whether he eat little or 
much." If you could have heard and seen that brave young 
fellow, rejoicing in the glorious independence which his own 
right arm had worked out for him, you would feel anxious for 
the honor of taking the first step to follow his example and 
break the general apathy, and perhaps I may add, indolence 
2 



18 JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. 

and pride, which, has bound down so many around us, to lives^ 
of comparative uselessness. 

In an American farm house there are no drones. I visited 
one : the ovv^ner, a hard working man, had amassed a fortune 
of 20 to 30,000 dollars. I called one evening and found the 
family together; and a fine group they were — a highly intel- 
ligent and genteel, but homely woman, the mother and six 
lovely young women, her daughters, around her. They had 
been carefully trained, and they adorned the circle in which 
they moved, because they had been liberally educated. But 
in that family there never had been a domestic servant. They 
were of the old Puritan stamp. All had a share of the house- 
hold work — no idlers. They had been formed according to 
the beautiful ancient female model mentioned in Holy Writ, 
who is thus described: "Her price is far above rubies. 
She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her 
hands She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands 
hold the distaff : she maketh fine linen, and selleth it, and de- 
livereth girdles to the merchant : she riseth also while it is 
yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion 
to her maidens : she openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in 
her tongue is the law of kindness : she looketh well to the 
ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. 
Her children arise up and call her blessed." 

Such country life was common in ancient times, and in 
modern times I rejoice to say it is not confined to the Ameri- 
cans, for the same is to be found in Canada, and other British 
American provinces, and the countries of Australia. "Why 
then should Jamaica, so well calculated as it is, to rejoice the 
hearts of its people, not be distinguished by like customs ? 
She is becoming docile under the rod. Starvation, sorrow, 
and grinding dependence will, I trust, break up the apathy 
of her sons and daughters ; the movement has commenced. 

I cannot leave this important topic without seeking 
further to acquaint you with the nature and extent of the 
industry of American females. They are occupied in all the 
business of the dairy — the small stock, the spinning wheel, 



JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. i9 

the loom, and the knitting wires. A large supply of goods, 
the products of female industry, in New Brunswick, are, as 
I know, for I have seen and purchased them, sent yearly to 
the market at St. John's, and supply the people with much 
of what we import, and also with butter, cheese, fowls, eggs, 
woolen and cotton yarn, mixed woolen and cotton cloths, 
stockings, and all kind of knitted work. There are, I know, 
in Canada, and generally in the other American countries, 
large quantities of soap and candles made at home. Now, 
look at the results. We of Jamaica have a population of 
about 400,000, one half of whom are females. Of these 
there must at the lowest computation be 50,000 who in the 
proper discharge of the duties of their station ought to 
" work willingly with their hands." Now what value of 
home manufactures could such a body of workers send to 
market ? In the British provinces a little girl sometimes 
makes as much as £5 worth of goods in the course of the 
year. Now, calculating by what this young New Bruns- 
wicker made — there might be five times 50,000, or a quarter 
of a million pounds sterling for the year, added to the wealth 
of the country, or nearly one-fourth of the export value of 
the products of our plantations, the proceeds of which we 
unfortunately spend in British and foreign manufactures, 
and impoverish the country instead of enriching it, by ex- 
pending the amount amongst ourselves. Why is it so ? Is 
it not because we labor under the erroneous impression that 
we can import cheaper than we can make ? But surely it 
is most evident that we can import nothing cheaper than 
the products of labor performed in time that would other- 
wise be lost. It is distressing to think how much of our 
poverty is the result of idle habits. Never can we have 
virtue and content prevailing generally amongst us until 
we redeem time, which I fear is frittered away and lost, 
and accomplish a large amount of steady industry ; for inno- 
cence and idleness never live together. 

On the subject of the expediency of raising our food on 
our own soil — the case against Jamaica is most remarkable. 



20 JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. 

and I believe unique. "With tlie finest soil and climate iii 
the world, and a half idle population, we are eating daily 
the corn grown upon the soil of America, "We ought to 
raise every article of corn, corn-meal, rice, beef, and pork, 
salted and smoked, lard and butter, candles, soap, and oil. 
We have been actually importing coooanut and castor oil 
from the East Indies ! How can there be the least prosperity 
amongst us so long as we stand disgraced before the world by 
such anomalies as these ? They are not easily credited 
when told out of the island. I have sometimes hardly been 
able to believe my own words when I described to others the 
common well known facts of the social and economical con- 
dition of the island. 

It can hardly be too much borne in mind by us of Ja- 
maica, or too often repeated, that the source from which 
American wealth has proceeded, and out of which it has ac- 
cumulated to its present great amount, is the immediate in- 
dustry of the people, aided by an education and general 
intelligence, which enable them to exercise that industry with 
patience and skill on profitable undertakings. Hitherto all 
proposals made here to remedy the evils of our lot by cutting 
out new channels for labor, have been met by the most wither- 
ing discouragement. Those who propose to do so, are gene- 
rally counted as quacks who profess to remedy what they 
know nothing about ; or disturbers ©f the general quietude. 
How untenable most of these propositions are, could easily be 
shown were there a fair field for meeting them. Take, for 
instance, the common assertion that we can import cheaper 
than we can farm for ourselves, or manufacture for ourselves. 
This could only be true, were the population busily and pro- 
fitably employed in something else. Now, the fact is, that 
a large portion of our population are nearly half idle for lack 
of demand for their labor ; so that any employment of that 
labor which would yield marketable products, would be a 
benefit to the country. If a child or an aged woman only 
earned 3d. a day by knitting, it is better for the country and 
happier for themselves that they should be doing so, than that 



JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. 21 

they should be idle and burthensome. And if abler women 
made only 9d. a day by weaving of their six or eight yards 
of woolen and cotton cloths, as the New Brunswickers do by 
their domestic looms, such employment has this recommen- 
dation, that the occupation is not unwomanly, and it is pro- 
ductive of something, the gains are regular, and the money 
value is spent in the country, and not sent, as it otherwise 
would be, out of it, to buy the same articles. About two 
hundred years ago, one of the exports of this island was hog's 
lard. It is now an import from America and Ireland, for 
which, d£12,000 annually are sent out of the country, instead 
of being spent in it, as it might very well be. How greatly 
would the cost of living be diminished, were our towns sup- 
plied with farm produce raised by good farmers of our own 
soil. The high prices of such produce in this country can 
only be accounted for by management the most careless, 
thriftless, and unskilful. For how else is it, that a common 
turkey bird here, fetches as large a price as two sheep in the 
State of Wisconsin ; and a bushel of corn is raised in that 
country for 9d., and the laborer well paid, while here it costs 
4s. to 5s., and the laborer is remunerated on the lowest scale. 
Our thriftless, uneconomic ways ruin us, and we shall remain 
prostrate until these are abandoned. How true the saying, 
the hand of the diligent maketh rich, and he that dealeth 
with a slack hand cometh to poverty. We cannot be rich, so 
long as the bulk of all that is earned in the country is spent 
out of it, even for common necessaries. 

Again, how is it that in the markets of New Brunswick 
I found that the finest mutton was to be had for 3d. per lb- 
while here the price is ranging from 9d. to Is. ? What but 
carelessness and want of common skill in the management 
of sheep on our extensive beautiful savannahs. In other 
countries we find wool one of the great staples of their 
wealth, while here it is often allowed to rot on the ground 
as worthless. No wool can be stronger or better for some 
important manufactures, as any one may prove who will 
buy from the poor Scotch emigrant women a few pairs of 



22 JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. . 

their home manufactured stocking, any one pair of which is 
worth three or four of any imported that I have seen, and 
the price by no means so high as their good quality deserves, 
which is, neither to tear nor wear. We could, if we would, 
help ourselves (in many more respects than the Ameri- 
cans can or do help themselves,) and our men and women of 
all classes to profitable employment. The productions of our 
soil and climate are so varied that every description of skill 
and ingenuity is invited into exercise. The productions of 
the American soil in the Northern States, where I travelled, 
are very limited in number and variety. When I mention 
corn and wheat, potatoes and turnips, beef and mutton, flax 
and wool, and a few fruits, I enumerate the chief products 
of their soil. Yet with these only, how busy are they ! — 
But what have we here ? We have all these except wheat, 
and perhaps we may have that too, but we have in addition, 
sugar, coffee, cocoa, cotton, arrow root, cassava, indigo, 
spices, ginger, oil nuts, figs, and fruits in every variety and 
abundance. There is no country in the world that invites 
every description of efibrt as our island does. If men would 
only put forth on our soil their strength and capital, and 
rouse their own and their family's energies, how speedily 
would poverty spread her leaden wings and flee away, and 
they be relieved of nineteen-twentieths of the carking cares 
that now oppress and weigh them down. Do I exaggerate 
when I say that a couple of acres in a seasonable district, 
well enclosed and carefully cultivated, would suffice to 
support in moderate comfort any family whatever ? I do 
not. Assuredly there is no country in which they can better 
their lot, or obtain subsistence more readily or with less 
labor than in this. Let them therefore be up and doing. — 
How cheering to young and high-minded lovers of independ- 
ence who long to be rid of the uncertain and beggarly modes 
of living, with which too many amongst us have been con- 
tented ; who desire to see aged parents, unprotected sisters, 
and other dear relatives, and I might add, loving sweet- 
hearts, independent of all but their own honest exertions ; to 



JAMAICA AND THE A'MERICANS. 23 

know that if they trust to themselves and the generous soil 
of this gem of the Western sea, that their independence 
may be achieved. 0, it is an ill-looking thing, in such 
circumstances as ours, to see, as we too often have seen 
amongst ourselves, numbers clothed in silk and other foreign 
adornments, instead of the production of their own handi- 
work, and indulging themselves in luxuries, the use of 
which nothing but wealth could justify, instead of being 
contented with the abundance around them, which a little 
skill or industry could easily m.ake available, but which 
little they withhold, jwhile on all sides they are proclaiming 
their poverty, and neglecting their most sacred duties to 
the helpless young and the aged. As a summary of the noble 
tlioughts that I have seen on this subject, I would recom- 
mend to your attention the song of the great Bard of my 
native land, of which the following are the commencing 
lines : — 

" What tho' on homely fare we dine, 

Wear hodden gray and a' that, <fec., 
Gie fools their sillis, and knaves theii" "wine, 

A man 's a man for a' that ; 
For a' that and a' that 

And a mickle mair than a' that, 
The man o' independent mind, 

Is King 'o 7nen, for a' that." 

The sentiment of the whole is well worthy of study and 
profound consideration. 

It is my firm belief that were it possible to adopt in this 
island, as the basis of a new condition of society, such prin- 
ciples as these, there is not in the world a country more 
capable, from its soil and climate and geographical position, 
of yielding so large an amount of wealth and abundance of 
comfort as this island. She might rival the far-famed island 
of the Mediterranean Sea, Crete, with her hundred cities. 
The future is in the hands of the present generation to give 
to it its form and body ; it is eminently so in the hands of 
the younger portion of the community to set the example of 
a new way, by throwing off the effeminacy and prejudices 



24 JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. 

that have clistmguished Creole life and habits, from those of 
all other members of the Anglo-Saxon race ; to arm their 
minds with the spirit that distinguished, and to this hour 
continues to distinguish, that branch of it who have made 
the lands of the wilderness to blossom, and the haunts of 
the wild hog, the bear, and the Indian, to become seats of 
learning and the abodes of wealth and comfort. 

It must be interesting to this assembly to learn that 
there is hardly a more remarkable characteristic of the land 
of toil of which I have been speaking, than the extraordinary 
patronage bestowed on every form of literature, from the 
newspapers, which are circulated in such marvellous pro- 
fusion, at one cent a copy, to the finest hot pressed quarto, the 
contents of which can generally be had there about 75 per 
cent, lower than the price of the original English publisher. 
The number of booksellers' shops in every quarter, and the 
multitudes of itinerant venders sent forth by them, and 
swarming in every thoroughfare, at all steam boats, rail 
carriages, hotels, and places of resort, afford one of the most 
interesting illustrations of the mental energy of the people. 
I asked the boy who was pressing me to buy his books as I 
was stepping into a rail car, what was the greatest amount 
he ever sold in one day ? He told me $50. From this some 
estimate may be formed of their energy and greatness, when 
I mention that the prices of his books varied from 6d. to 2s. 
a piece, so that he must have sold betwixt 150 and 200 of 
his small volumes in the course of that day. Had we a 
population of snch mental energy that could read, and were 
to transmit through the mass intellectual food at that rate, 
what changes might we not expect. Bat alas ! how few of 
our people know the art of reading at all ; and of those who 
do know, how few read ivell ; and of those, how small a pro- 
portion is there who have cherished habits favorable to the 
pursuit of knowledge. The real evils of our condition must 
be grappled with. The country looks forward to those who 
indicate their regard for knowledge and its diffusion, and 
have experienced in their own minds its unspeakable value. 



JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. 25 

There is in the State of Massachusetts, amongst the fac- 
tory girls of the town of Lowell, an interesting example of the 
literary capabilities of the working classes of America. There 
is a monthly magazine of literature published there, the whole 
contributions to which, profess to be, and really are, from the 
pens of females who earn, or vv^ho have been at some time of 
their lives earning their living by labor, A great portion of 
them are children of the small farmers, who, all of them, are 
men that labor with their own hands at the several operations 
of husbandry ; but some of these girls are from families of a 
class superior to these ; indeed, the state of matters is such? 
that no respectable young woman, who feels it difficult to 
get employment, need scruple to take it at the Lowell mills, 
unless it be that the work is really too hard. Their hours of 
toil are from ten to twelve hours daily ; and yet in the even- 
ings, many of them find a solace in their books, or in the 
employment of their pens. Some of the productions of these 
noble-minded girls would do no discredit to the most respec- 
table periodicals of the day ; and, in truth, from that class, 
several females of considerable literary eminence have arisen, 
and occupied and adorned influential positions in society. I 
called en the lady. Miss Harriet Farley, who edits the work. 
She is a quiet, unpretending, but genteel young woman, ap- 
parently a little above thirty years of age. She informed me 
that her father was a Minister of the G-ospel, and two of her 
brothers, lawyers.; and that it had been originally intended 
that she should engage herself in keeping a school, but that 
she preferred the mills, and had worked there during eleven 
years as a weaver ; and now the duties of her little Magazine 
occupied her time entirely. Lideed, its reputation has a\- 
ready secured for it a large circulation, and it was recently 
brought into notice in England by Miss Martineau. Miss 
Farley had become proprietor, as well as editor of the work, 
and did the duties of the bookseller too ; for in the bookstore 
of her publisher's, I met her, — she had her own little shop 
filled with the sheets of her work, and she told me that be- 
sides her duties as seller and editor, she made up and des* 



26 JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. 

patched with her own hands her monthly parcels, and, in 
short, performed the entire duties that were required for the 
work, in all its departments. 

It will readily be seen how great a stimulus this work of 
Miss Farley's gives to the female mind of a large class in 
America, an object similar to which, so far as I know, no 
special effort has been made in other countries ; and how 
loudly does such an example call on us, who feel interested 
in the diffusion of knowledge here, to profit by her example. 
A similar work in this island might be made not only a de- 
pository of much important stray knowledge of great local 
value, which would otherwise be lost for want of a place to 
put it in, but it would stimulate and keep alive the powers 
of many really valuable minds amongst those who are passing 
languishing, useless lives for want of occupation ; and further, 
there is now an opportunity every fortnight of diffusing it in 
America, by their noble steamers that touch and rest at our 
port. The day is dawning — let us no longer sleep. 

In closing these desultory statements and observations, I 
desire particularly to have it understood, as the impression 
which I as a Jamaica man received of the comparative con- 
dition of the two countries — that as to soil and (;}imate, 
extent and variety of production, facilities to make and 
accumulate wealth, and general appearance of the country, 
we have greatly the advantage ; and on my return I felt more 
contented than ever to remain in Jamaica and participate in 
the afFiictions of the times, in the sure hope of better days, 
to contribute my humble share of duty in promoting the 
common weal. Let any one of us be exposed for a week to 
all the discomforts and inconvenience of their rigorous cold 
weather, even as it is felt occasionally in their autumn 
months, and he will soon turn his longing eyes again to the 
soft balmy climate of the Island of Springs. But the evil — 
the great evil that has overwhelmed us, and still keeps us 
down in misery and poverty, while America is glorious in 
wealth, intelligence and power, is apathy, indolence and 
pride — too great for labor ; while Americans of all classes, 



JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. 27 

and of both sexes, glory in labor as their distinguishing 
diginity, as a nation of wise and efiective men ; the source 
of their health, wealth and strength ; the promoter of their 
happiness, and the sustainer of their cheerfulness. Those 
amongst them who are not rich, help themselves cheerfull}^ 
and willingly, and are not ashamed of any honest occupa- 
tion which the varied field of labor presents. E,espectable 
men there, are not ashamed with^their own hands, to plough 
and drive teams and carts, and to stand in the open markets 
and do the hardest manual labor for the glorious privilege of 
being independent, while too many of the same class here, 
would, rather than do so, lounge away their lives inglo- 
riously, begging for some miserable clerkship in the country, 
or the paltry gains of attending a little provision store, 
believing that these are higher employments than manly 
honorable toil as husbandmen, though beautified by such 
names as Cincinnatus and Burns, and many of the leading 
minds that have moulded the destinies of the great "Western 
Republic. And to the females of this island, to whom in 
the Providence of G-od a life of toil can alone secure an 
honorable independence, I would say, do nothing that is 
unwomanly — sacrifice nothing of the proprieties and delica- 
cies of life, of which you are especially the appointed con- 
servators, and ought to be the embodiment ; but think of 
Harriet Farley and Fanny Forrester, and other of the Lowell 
girls who have risen to eminence, and of their years of 
honorable toil in the factories of America, and believe that, 
like them, you will lose nothing, and gain much — that you 
will secure in the end as they have, your reward, in the 
esteem and respect of the true and the good. What prospect 
in life, entertained by an honorable and virtuous woman of 
any rank, was blighted by the reputation of a willingness to 
work hard ? Pepend on it, the glorious days of the incapa- 
bles have passed away. Our laborers are emancipated. 'We 
must now serve ourselves, and struggle with the stern 
reality of hard work, if we would lead happy and honorable 
lives. Let those who are beginning life, determine to m ake 



28 JAMAICA AND THE AMERICANS. 

themselves independent by tlieir own unaided strength, 
though it should be in a " hunter's hut" by the side of a 
mountain, or by the labors of the spindle, the distaif, the 
loom, or the knitting v/ires. And to all I would say, the 
Spring is coming — lose no time — go noiv to the country. — 
There is no land in the world that will so abundantly reward 
the efforts of ingenuity and industry as the generous soil of 
Jamaica, if her sons and daughters will only believe it, and 
seek to develope its abundant bounties. Even one well tilled 
acre of properly selected land will nearly secure an entire 
family against want. There ought therefore to be no 
hanging heads or rueful looks amongst the young and the 
strong amongst us ; upon them rest the honorable and sacred 
duty of supporting the v.^eak, the helpless, and the aged. 

Another word and I have done. Let a monthly magazine 
be established under the special patronage of this society, 
that there may be at once a communion and interchange of 
thought amongst all classes on important subjects. Let 
religion, virtue, ingenuity, intelligence and labor be en- 
couraged and honored in its pages, and indolence and vice 
discouraged, and the prevailing apathy roused and disturbed. 
Then, and then only, in the language of the Prophet, shall 
our land yield her increase, and G-od shall bless us : and 
under such a course only can Jamaica hope to regain and to 
hold Avith more propriety and truth than she ever held it in 
her best days, the proud title of Queen of the Antilles and 
brightest jewel in the Crown of England, 



APPET^DIX 



l.—^Implemental Husbandry^ 



When in America, I stated amongst my friends that tlie corn grown in Jamaica 
wag cultivated chiefly by tli© hoe, and that the plough and harrow were scarcely 
ever used unless occasionally on sugar estates. This statement seemed to them 
almost incredible. I called on Messrs. John Meyer & Co. of New- York, to inspect 
the various implements of husbandry in their ware-room, and I was deeply interest- 
ed from what I saw, and impressed by the importance of introducing such wares 
to the knowledge of the people of Jamaica. After conversing fully on the subject . 
Mr. Meyer was good enough to offer to send an agent to the Island with an ex- 
perimental parcel of such goods as were likely to suit the market. He came, and 
in. a few weeks sold off the whole. There is now a regular store with every pros- 
pect of establishing a permanent and good business. The want of implemental 
husbandry and labor saving machines has been one of the greatest disabilities of the 
Jamaica husbandman, and the supply of it is the greatest boon that could have 
been conferred on him. It has been most gratifying to rae to have been the meane 
of procuring it. The usual price of maize raised on the Island in the Island mar- 
kets, is ^l and upwards per bushel. An American farmer who relies on hb ploughs 
and not on his hoes, would I think make money at these prices. 

II. — Oi^enings for American Skill cmd Caintal. 

There is a certain class of men to whom agriculture is a most agreeable enjoy- 
ment, but they can neither engage in it under a rigorous climate nor have they 
strength to make much continued personal exertion in its duties. The mountains 
of Jamaica present to them a delightful field for enterprise. The climate is salu- 
brious and delightful, the land very cheap, and the productions various and valuable. 
Negro laborers may be had at a quarter of a dollar per day, and if they be instruct- 
ed in the use of implements and at the same time well superintended, their labor 
will yield good profit. I refer not to sugar planting, which is precarious and in- 
volves the employment of a hea^^ capital, but rather to general farming of corn, 
ground provisions, arrow root, and some of our tropical products, such as tobacco, 
sugar, choco late, <$:c., and the raising of stock of all kinds. 



30 APPENDIX. 

III. — Fiscal Regulations of Engla^id. 

We are " driven to the wall" by the duties imposed in our own markets in Eng- 
land, on onr products of sugar and coffee. The present rate of these duties is about 
100 per cent, on the market value. It is therefore only in favorable circumstances 
that the raisers of these products are remunerated. But even with such articles 
there may yet be done much by a more extensive use of implements and an im- 
proved farm economy. Other products however have a freer market, such as gin- 
ger, chocolate, arrow root, indigo, cotton, oils, dyes, fruits, (fee. 

IV. — Caitses of the loresent Prostrate Condition of Jamaica. 

It has been erroneously stated that emancipation of the slaves accounts for our 
present distress. Assuredly it does not ; for it is undoubted that sugar is now pro- 
duced by the labor of freemen at less cost than it used to be by the labor of slaves. 
I have heard this repeatedly admitted by experienced men, and I believe it. The 
cause of our depression is to be found in the great fall of prices that immediately 
followed the Act of the imperial Parliament of 1846 regulating the sugar duties, 
which at onco deprived the British planter of an old monopoly. The fall was not 
less than 50 per cent, and the depression has been permanent. Is not that sufficient 
to account for the general ruin and bankruptcy of the sugar cliques of England ? 

Jamaica also suffers from the low condition of her laboring population. They 
are a kind and harmless race, are exceedingly ignorant, and their lives are innocent. 
There is, however, great security for the person all over Jamaica. Crimes of vio- 
lence against whites are hardly knov/n. The blacks and browns constitute a great 
portion of the military and police force of the Island, and are universally relied on 
as the most loyal and trusty subjects of the Queen's government. It is not I think 
correct to say tliat the state of these colonies proves the failure of emancipation. 
The real facts of the case would show that the cost of producing sugar and coffee 
is now very much less than it was during slavery ; but that the prices have by rea- 
son of the breaking up of the monopoly which they had so long enjoyed of the Bri- 
tish market, fallen below the remunerating point. After the passing of the Sugar 
Duties Act of 1846, the price of sugar fell perraanpntly 50 per cent. 

V. — American Settlers in Jamaica. 

Several intelligent and pious families of missionaries from America have settled 
in the mountains of Jamaica. They are now little centres of civilisation, industry 
and piety. They all seem to like the country much and exercise themselves in 
manual labor, and they believe that were the skill and energy of their agriculturists 
transferred to Jamaica, it would be amply compensated. It is now many years 
since these excellent people came amongst us, and I am not aware of a single death 
having occurred amongst them. So much for salubrity of climate. 



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